Nokia Is Confident Lumia Phones Will Sell, Says Manufacturers Will Play Catch Up

Nokia’s director spoke with Times of India about the company’s position with Microsoft, Windows Phone, and why it decided to join Microsoft.

Most recently the company unveiled its Lumia 920 and 820 smartphones, flagship Windows Phone 8 devices.

Nokia isn’t planning for its Lumia devices to fail

Nokia’s bet with Windows Phone is risky: if the operating system fails to gain momentum then it will be forced to look at alternatives. The problem is there aren’t alternatives: Nokia has no second plan. Though Nokia’s view is that isn’t a problem.

Its director said to Times of India that it chose Windows Phone over Android was because of Microsoft’s vision and what it wanted to do with Windows Phone 8. The feeling is the operating system has promise but needs developer support to compete with iOS and Android. Figures revealed Windows Phone is seeing over 100 apps submitted per day. iOS and Android sees over 700 and 600, respectively. Will devices alone encourage developer support?

Times of India asked what happens if the aforementioned Lumia phones “fail.” “As for Plan B, there is none. But what I can tell you at the moment is that we are committed to Windows Phone and we have many more exciting devices in the pipeline. These two are just the beginning,” director of Nokia Vipul Mehrotra said. Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop made similar comments around the launch of Lumias 800 and 900.

Bold Design Key Successful?

Methrota was also asked how it will compete with Samsung, a fellow Windows Phone partner. He said Samsung is welcomed into Windows Phone and he hopes it will make devices. The director added companies will have to catch Nokia, referencing its design strengths. Samsung launched one of the stronger Windows Phone 7 phones, the Samsung Omnia. We’ve yet to see what the company is producing for Windows Phone 8.

HTC also unveiled its 8X and 8S devices, drawing a strong reception from media and consumers. However Nokia criticized HTC’s phones, seemingly its HTC 8X, due to the bold designs focused on the bezel and the back.

Windows Phone is yet to have a release date. It is expected to launch this year given rumors its is finished; photos showed developers literally signed off a Modern UI-esque board.

Published: Tuesday, September 25th, 2012 Last Modified: September 25, 2012

Written by:Jon Charles Jonathan is a writer on the technology and video game industries. He is comfortable with using Mac OS X and Windows; he began using Windows with Windows XP during his early double-digit years, and started using OS X in 2009 on a MacBook Pro. He began gaming on the SNES back in the 90s.